Decipher: Product Line-up Changes for 2005

[Caretaker]

http://decipher.fanhq.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ID=799

Product Line-up Changes for 2005


12 May 2005

In 2005 Decipher's line of gaming products will focus on its two flagship properties – The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek; The trading card games will continue as planned and The Lord of the Rings RPG will be coming back into the line-up in June, followed by a new release every eight weeks or so.

MegaMan and .hack will be taken out of production and no further products will be released for either line. We've all had a great time working on these two properties and are very sad to see them go, but each had a nice run and we are very pleased with the eight sets of cards we produced. We are confident that they will continue to be enjoyed for years to come. We will, of course, continue to support both games at the organized play level for as long as there is sufficient interest. WARS TCG will be put on hiatus to give the property a chance to develop to its fullest potential. While this is very disappointing to all of us here at Decipher, given the current state of the TCG market we feel it is necessary. Decipher is in negotiations with potential partners in Hollywood that could lead to WARS becoming a much more substantial property than it is currently. So far the response to the WARS property has been extremely positive and we feel it has a bright future. Organized play support will also continue as planned.

We are looking forward to some exciting products for both Star Trek CCG and The Lord of the Rings TCG this year. For The Lord of the Rings, Bloodlines releases in July and will introduce two new ring-bearers (Sam and Gandalf) as well as an entirely new card type (followers). After that, look for The War of the Ring Anthology in August followed by the Enhanced Middle Earth product in September. Enhanced Middle Earth officially brings draft back to The Lord of the Rings TCG and will also introduce characters that never made it into Peter Jackson's masterpieces. Characters such as Brand, King of Dale and Dain Ironfoot, King Under the Mountain will be brought to life along with seven other never-before-seen companions. Finally, in November a new block will begin with Hunters, which as the name suggests, will be themed around the trio of Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas.

In the world of Star Trek CCG the Adversaries Anthology will make its debut in June and feature two new extended art cards – Borg Queen and Shinzon – in addition to the 18 new foils chosen from previous sets. In August look for To Boldly Go, which will introduce Enterprise as an affiliation and feature extended art cards of Captain Janeway and Captain Kirk. Kirk will be a preview for the first expansion to be released in 2006. In September Star Trek draft becomes fully functional with the introduction of the Dangerous Missions Draft Boxes. Three different Star Trek storylines will be featured, The Enterprise storyline The Forge, Deep Space Nine's The Siege, and the motion picture Generations can each be found in one of the three boxes. The year finishes up with Captain's Log in December and the introduction of Voyager to Second Edition.

You can also look for Decipher at the upcoming summer game conventions Origins and Gen Con. We will not be attending Comic Con in San Diego as exhibitors this year but we will be supporting a full schedule of organized play there all weekend. In Europe look for Decipher Events at the European Championships in Utrecht this June and the Essen Game Fair in Germany this coming October.

While we are all saddened by the passing of some of our favorite games we are also very excited about what is coming up for The Lord of the Rings RPG, The Lord of the Rings TCG and Star Trek CCG in the future. Thank you all for your support!





• • •

And there she goes...

[Dylan Dog]

It's dead, Jim....

[C5]

I can now officially announce that I loathe CCGs with all my heart

And that Decipher's PTB have confirmed that they're a bunch of expletives

[Tobian]

It's insulting that they don't even bother to list Startrek among their product lines AT ALL! they bang on about wars.. oh what a shame but err hello - it never was made!?! Trek was, thanks for another whitewash of an infomation job Decipher!

[black campbellq]

I can now officially announce that I loathe CCGs with all my heart

I have pretty much since they came out and took over the greater gaming community. Between CCG and computer games, the RPG community -- at least where I've been living the last five-ten years -- has been scant.

[Dylan Dog]

I have pretty much since they came out and took over the greater gaming community. Between CCG and computer games, the RPG community -- at least where I've been living the last five-ten years -- has been scant.

I´ve seen plenty of that going on as well... I like CCGs, many of them -- like Magic:the Gathering and Vampire -- are truly exceptional games, fun, well designed, always fresh with new ways to play. However, the "Collectible" aspect is what kills them for me... cards worth dozens of dollars, the "wall street" vibe on the hobby stores, and the whole "my cards folder is worth $3.000,00 dollars" thing is just ridiculous; I´d play if they came in a box, with hundreds of cards, and each player buys one box and expansion sets and just PLAYS IT GODAMMIT
Anyway, back to the point, CCGs are "cooler" in most people´s mind than RPGs - less effort, the cards are worth money, they form a collection... and many "cards people" call RPG gamers "nerds". Talk about nonsense...
And yeah, Decipher won´t even mention the line. IT NEVER WAS, we are a nuisance, "just get out of the way and let´s make money you stupid fanboys!" Blah... I sense a slightly "Paramountish" smell around here...